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MX Player, a Video App Used By More Than 175 Million Users, Debuts OTT Service. Android Enthusiasts Express Concern. (venturebeat.com)
MX Player, a video app which has been downloaded more than 500 million times across the globe, kickstarted its OTT (online video streaming) service in India, one of its largest markets, this week. MX Player, which is popular worldwide, has earned a loyal user base over the years for being the app that can run any video file you throw at it, even if your smartphone, tablet, or Android TV box doesn't have high-end specs or updated software. It was acquired by Times Internet, an India-based conglomerate this June, and now the big giant is beginning to show what it intends to do with the app. From a report: [...] All of these titles, including those produced by Times Internet, are now available to MX Player users in India at no charge, Karan Bedi, CEO of MX Player, told VentureBeat in an interview. Like most of Times Internet's properties, which include several TV channels and newspapers, MX Player will count on ads to generate revenue. Betting on ad-driven business model, a popular path in developing markets, could help MX Player quickly convince its existing user base to give the streaming offerings a try as it begins to compete in the Indian market. Star India's ad-supported service Hotstar, which offers about 80 percent of its catalog to customers for free, currently leads the video streaming market in the country.
Going forward, Bedi said, the company remains committed to making investments in what made MX Player so popular among customers: The ability to play a plethora of video files on low-end devices. The company won't be bringing its new streaming offerings to the paid version of the MX Player app, MX Pro, he said. Additionally, MX Player's streaming offerings are limited to India, one of its largest markets, for now, although Bedi said the company is working on the right content catalog for other regions. Over at Android sub-reddit, where this story has been discussed, dozens of users expressed their concerns on the direction MX Player appears to be headed.
Going forward, Bedi said, the company remains committed to making investments in what made MX Player so popular among customers: The ability to play a plethora of video files on low-end devices. The company won't be bringing its new streaming offerings to the paid version of the MX Player app, MX Pro, he said. Additionally, MX Player's streaming offerings are limited to India, one of its largest markets, for now, although Bedi said the company is working on the right content catalog for other regions. Over at Android sub-reddit, where this story has been discussed, dozens of users expressed their concerns on the direction MX Player appears to be headed.
The IP in the player and its abilities are a big deal for Times Internet and probably why they bought them. Over half of R&D efforts are toward getting a consistent streaming experience across platforms (and working around Apple's insanely bad protocols you are forced to utilize).
Going forward, Bedi said, the company remains committed to making investments in what made MX Player so popular among customers: The ability to play a plethora of video files on low-end devices.
This gentleman got it wrong! he should have written that second sentence as follows:
The ability to play a plethora of video files on low-end devices, with no ads, let or hindrance. (Bold mine).
I can confirm to the poor fella that the player will be off my phone within hours after seeing the first ad.
Over the top.
I'm not sure on the etymology. Now wondering if it's linked to the use of that phrase in WWI.
Here's one:
You've paid for internet access on your [capable] mobile device. Some authority then sees it fit to charge you to for instance fully access Viber, Telegram, WhatsAPP or any other service that runs over the internet backbone.
If you're going to use obscure acronyms, at least spell them out once. I get tired of articles where I have to make 10 trips to Google just to translate them to something resembling English. Even those of us who are tech savvy cant keep up with all the latest shorthand.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
That is still less than helpful.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
With VLC, I've been able to play any video file you throw at it, even if your smartphone, tablet, or Android TV box doesn't have high-end specs or updated software. VLC is open source so i trust it and it doesn't display any ads.
Has anyone here actually used MX? Sounds like a downgrade to me.
Well if dozens of people on a blog are concerned, who am I not to be?
No, but this is Slashdot and someone will be annoyed enough that I'm wrong that they'll post the correct definition in order to correct me.
It seemed quicker than using Google.
If your player can play it ALL... even ancient obscure game video formats... even folders of JPEGs... Then it is based on ffmpeg. Full stop.
Basically everyone and their donkey use ffmpeg. Even DirectShow players, with the ffdshow that is the heart of every Windows codec pack.
And so, fighting about which player plays the most formats, is as silly as aguing which arm (aka "party") of the industry is more evil in the US.
They are just front-ends. Veils. Th
Over the top. Thought you were joking. But no that is what it means ! And in essence seems to mean VTI (via the Internet) or NAA (nothing at all)
Thought you were joking.
Shit. So did I.
I guess it really shows were /. is headed nowadays when the forum users are worse than some AOL group user in their ability to use the internet.
OTT is a well established concept ever since netflix came along. And for all the others who hear this the first time, they can use google.
The first entry I get in my localized google version is a special wikipedia link since basically google itself tells me the definition. However it's in pretty much any wikipedia version, including the international one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
It's a video service without their own distribution service (antenna, dish, copper lines, etc.) instead only using the internet.
VLC's tracked 2 billion downloads, and that figure doesn't include installations coming from Linux distros, app stores, or other third parties (I get mine from packman.links2linux.de).
I saw the article title, and my first thought was, "Why are we posting stories about a 30-year-old ballistic missile program?"
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Wiki sez:
Over the top (OTT) is a term used to refer to content providers that distribute streaming media as a standalone product directly to viewers over the Internet, bypassing telecommunications, multichannel television, and broadcast television platforms that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.[1]
The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video on demand services that offer access to film and television content (including existing series acquired from other producers, as well as original content produced specifically for the service), including but not limited to Amazon Video, Hulu, Netflix, and fuboTV as well as a wave of "skinny" television services that offer access to live streams of linear specialty channels similar to a traditional satellite or wireline television provider, but streamed over the public Internet, rather than a closed, private network with proprietary equipment such as set-top boxes.
Over the top services are typically accessed via websites on personal computers, as well as via apps on mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), digital media players (including video game consoles), or televisions with integrated smart TV platforms.
Yeah, I've never heard of it used that way either. It must be yet another term being redefined by the cultureless, uneducated children of today.
FYI even the early symbian phones were "spyware phones". And every single modern phone is.
There's a reason why state security people require that any high security meeting, no phones are allowed in the room.
Shit. So did I.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
OTT makes almost zero sense. I hate whoever is trying to use it.
I should clarify, OTT as a term. It's not even intuitive to Internet Streaming Video, why not ISV or something.or Online Video Streaming like the synopsis had to explain. OVS sounds better too.
Over-the-top is a more widespread concept than streaming media. More people use the phrase over-the-top than even know the difference between "watching," "streaming," and "downloading."
And, what an awful idea for them! Why don't they choose a term that makes them looks good, or is suggestive of their product?
Maybe they think that language is invented by marketing people? That they're considered an authority? I doubt even marketing people use the term at home. "Streaming" is faster and easier to say than their acronym.
That said, any time anybody uses an acronym for the first time in the document, they need to explain it. But if it is some niche shit that is a different niche than the specialized website they're writing for? Yeah, definitely deserving of ridicule. Maybe they don't need to explain CPU, but sure as heck better explain shit from teeveeland marketing.
The slashvertiser should demand a refund.
I've been using VLC for years. It's never failed me.